Grace and Peace Episode 7

 Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Grace and Peace Episode 7
Presbyterian Church of Easton
October 13, 2020

Grace and Peace Episode 7

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:2

Heidelberg Catechism

14Q.  Can another creature—any at all— pay this debt for us?

A. No.   To begin with, God will not punish any other creature for what a human is guilty of.  Furthermore, no mere creature can bear the weight of God’s eternal wrath against sin and deliver others from it.

15Q.  What kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for then?

A. One who is a true and righteous human, yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also true God.

The sin in our lives requires payment.  God’s perfect justice requires that our debt be paid.   But who can pay it?  Certainly not us!   How could we ever get out of the hole we have dug for ourselves when we keep digging deeper every day?  We can’t.   We need a savior.  Who might this savior be.

If you are single your savior might be a spouse.   If you are childless your savior might be a child.   If you are sick your savior might be a doctor.  If you are unemployed your savior might be someone who will hire you.  If you are concerned about the country your savior might be the next president.  If you are concerned about your immortal soul your savior might be a new pastor.  We always hope that someone will save us from the problems we have.

But we find that those we hope will be our savior need saviors themselves.  All of our potential spouses, all of our children, all of our doctors, all of our employers, all of our politicians, and all of our pastors are sinners.  They have dug their own holes.   They are digging their own holes every day.   They all need saviors for themselves.   How could they ever save us?

So we seem to be in a helpless situation.   Because of our sin we can never repay the debt we owe God.   And no one will come to save us because everyone else also has a debt that cannot be repaid.   And this debt gets bigger and bigger every day.  What can we do?

The palmist gives us an answer.  “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.  Lord, hear my voice!  Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!  If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?  But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.” (Psalm 130:1-3)

There is someone who can save us.  There is someone who can pay our debt.   There is someone who can get us out of the hole we are in.  There is someone without sin.  There is someone with no debt to pay.   There is someone who can save us.   And that someone is our savior, Jesus Christ.  Through Jesus, God forgives our sin, cancels our debt, and gently lifts us out of the hole we have dug.   Let's pray. 

Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending your son to pay our debts and forgive our sin. We thank you for lifting us up from the depths.  In your son’s name we pray.  Amen.